Updated on March 27, 4:45 p.m.: Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said he spoke with Attorney General Greg Abbott and “There is no question that the attorney general can and will conduct an impartial investigation, and he expressed that he has the resources and is willing to conduct an independent inquiry, should the UT System Board of Regents request that he do so.”

Updated on March 26, 6:54 p.m.: In a letter to the 18 Senators, UT Board of Regents Chair Gene Powell said he appreciates the concern, and that the board has already planned to discuss the decision to begin another investigation with the attorney general. The board also discussed that another investigation could be launched prior to the March 20 meeting.

Original item on March 26, 2:16 p.m.: AUSTIN — Eighteen members of the Texas Senate signed a letter urging the University of Texas Board of Regents to use the attorney general’s office to investigate the UT law school.

UT-Austin President Bill Powers

That’s if the board insists on pursuing the investigation, which the letter describes as an “unnecessary probe” and a “duplicative review, which targets UT-Austin for the obvious purpose of attempting to discredit its president.”

Up from four signatures yesterday, an additional 14 members of the Texas Senate, five of whom sit on the Joint Select Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence and Transparency, have thrown their support behind UT-Austin President Bill Powers.

UT System Spokeswoman Jenny Lacoste-Caputo said Chairman Gene Powell, to whom the letter is addressed, is drafting a response to the senators.

The decision to reassess the relationship between UT-Austin and the UT School of Law and Law School Foundation passed with a four-to-three vote during a March 20 regents meeting that was unusually heated.

The next external review was suggested to look into “fact discrepancies” that were not in the original report conducted by Barry Bergdorf, UT vice chancellor and general counsel. Burgdorf’s report was reviewed by the attorney general’s office. The UT System’s audit office is currently tasked with performing an internal audit on the report, which is ongoing.

Burgdorf was tasked in 2011 with creating a report to look at thousands of dollars in forgivable loans handed out by the Law School Foundation. The foundation receives funding from private donors. Among those loans was a $500,000 loan given to law school Dean Larry Sager who was forced to resign in 2011.

Some regents allege that the report went easy on UT-Austin President Bill Powers, who was dean of the law school when the forgivable loan program began. The program, which is now defunct, was created to subsidize salaries for law school faculty to retain them at the university.

The regents opposing the new report — R. Steve Hicks, James Dannenbaum and Robert Stillwell — claim it’s a waste of taxpayer money (the previous report cost about $500,000 to conduct) and that it targets Powers.

Powers said he has cooperated with the regents every step of the way and complied with all requests.

Allegations that the regents have been micromanaging Powers and trying to force his retirement have reached the Legislature. Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, drafted a bill that would to limit the scope of duties unconfirmed regents may perform. Regents are appointed by the governor, but must be confirmed by the Senate. The joint committee was also formed to investigate the relationship between universities and their governing bodies with special attention paid to UT-Austin.

Here’s a list of the bipartisan group of senators — seven Republicans, 11 Democrats — who signed the letter:

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